ABSORB
Project: Three-dimensional textile reliefs with an integrated acoustics solution
Exhibition: Nicolai Howalt "An Ode to Pareidolia" x Anne Boysen (26.04.2018 - 02.06.2018)
Gallery: Martin Asbæk Gallery
Year: 2018
Thanks to: Textile kindly sponsored by Kvadrat
For four months, architect Anne Boysen has been in close dialogue with Nicolai Howalt studying his practices, works, techniques, use of color and the meaning of the exhibition title An Ode to Pareidolia. In parallel, she has created 3 three-dimensional textile reliefs with an integrated acoustics solution – a form that complements not only the art, but the dynamics, structures and significances of the gallery space. Her installation, Absorb, is thus created site specific for both the space, architecture and Nicolai Howalt's alluring body of works.
The wavy, seemingly moving reliefs reflect Howalt's inspiring abstract versions of natural phenomena and scientific investigations. They literally soften up the static, two-dimensional format and the white walled gallery and draw nature inside: A beautiful green relief grips a corner, mimicking free-growing moss in a landscape, a bright pink one interacts with the daylight and intensifies in expression due to its varying folds, and dark grey velour relief shimmers like a silent vibration in the room. The textile is applied to 40mm acoustic panels, which reduces 99% of the sound that hits the surface, thus lowering the pace of the room, making visitors dwell. The holistic installation invites the viewer to engage on a bodily level, sensing its ever-changing nature depending on lighting, location and the art it relates to.
True to Anne Boysen's additional works, this architectural intervention is characterized by adding calm and gentle movements to the space. Relating directly to Howalt’s works, they force the viewer to pause and relate to the space with its intricate corners, edges and special characters.
Text by Henriette Noermark
